Ditching-machine.



s. MILLER. DITGHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APB-.24, 1909.

989,861,. Patented Apr. 18, 1911.

'SAM MILLER, OF GEORGETOWN, TEXAS.

DIToiiI'itG MAoHINE".

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 24, 1909.

Patented Apr. 18, 1911. Serial No. 492,061.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAM MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residingat Georgetown, in the county of Williamson and State of Texas, haveinvented a new and useful Ditching-h Iachine, of which the following isa specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a ditching machine which issimple in construction and easy to operate.

Another object is to provide a reversible machine in order that it maybe returned over the same line.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe novel construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafterdescribed and claimed, reference being had to the drawing hereto annexedin which Figure 1 is a perspective View of the machine. Fig. 2 is a planview. Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 5 denotes the landside ofthe machine, said landside consisting of a wooden beam of suitablelength. The brace is indicated at 6. This is set obliquely with respectto the landside, said parts converging in the direction of the front endof the machine. The brace 6 is connected at its rear end to the landsideby a transverse brace 7, said brace being secured at its ends to thebrace 6, and the landside by bolts 8 or other suitable fastening means.The end portions of the brace 7 through which the bolts 8 pass areprovided with a number of bolt-holes in order that adjustment may bemade.

The brace 6 does not extend to the front end of the land side 5, thespace therebetween being bridged by a scraper bar 9. This scraper bar isapproximately V-sha-ped and is bolted or otherwise secured to the brace6 and extends to the front end of the machine, from which it is carriedrearwardly along the outer surface of the landside as indicated at 10for a suitable distance and bolted or otherwise secured thereto. The twoparts 9 and 10 of the scraper-blade come to a point at the front end ofthe machine.

The portion of the scraper bladevwhich is connected with brace 6, hasits upper and lower edges sharpened as indicated at 11, and said edgesalso extend respectively above and below the upper and lower edges ofthe brace 6 as shown in Fig. 3. The portion 10 of the blade at its rearend is of the same width as the landside 5 and at its forward end iswidened out to the same width as the part 9 of the scraper bar as shownin Figs. 1 and 3.

The scraper blade has an opening 12 adjacent its point to receive thedraft attachment.

It is to be understood that in operation, approximately half of theditching device is in the ground, and the device is thereforereversible. In other words, the width of the scraper bar 9 is abouttwice the depth of the ditch, which is to be cut. The device is to bedrawn by about four draft animals hitched to the device in any suitableman ner, such as by means of a log chain and swivel secured in hole 12.When starting a ditch, a furrow is opened with a plow, the whole lengthof the ditch. The ditching machine is placed in this furrow and drawntherealong. lVhen the end of the ditch is reached, the machine isturned, bottom edges up, and goes back over the same line to completethe ditch.

The machine needs no handles and is operated with one man standing on.the forward end or point and another man sitting on the landside 5, andregulating the depth of the cut by either throwing his weight on thebrace 6 or removing his weight and drawing upward on the brace 7 byhand.

What is claimed is A ditching machine comprising an elongated landsidehaving its forward end sharpened on a bevel, a diagonal brace having itsrear end in advance of the rear end of the landside and being of thesame width as the landside, a V-shaped scraper bar connecting the braceand landside, the forward pointed ends of said bar being widened and theupper and lower portion of the part which is connected to the bracebeing sharpened and extending respectively above and below the brace,the part of the bar connected to the landside being of the same Intestimony that I claim the foregoing Width as the landside, and anapproximately as my own, I have hereto aifixed my signa- Z-shaped crosspiece having one end eX- ture in the presence of two Witnesses. tendedforwardly and adjustably connected SAM MILLER. with the diagonal braceand having the Witnesses:

other end extended rearwardly and adjust- R. E. MOORE,

ably connected with the landside. WV. H. HANNA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents- Washington, D. G.

